Payment Plan - How it works?

Introduction

In this article, you will find the description of all fields that are available to be selected during Payment Plan configuration. If you do not know how to use a given Payment Plan feature, here, you can check its function and in some cases, example of usage. 

Mind, it is not a practical instruction, but the feature description. Use this article as an explanation of the possibilities you have when configuring your Payment Plan.

• This article will help you understand the meaning of the fields you have to fill in during the Payment Plan configuration. 
• This article will be helpful to PG Champion, Club Manager, Administrator and Club Owner. 

Before you start 

Read the following article and familiarize with the Payment Plan definition. 

The following info in this section is applicable to R93 and later.

You can define a policy of Personal Id requirement in PGM, PosWeb, CP2 and API: require only for not free Payment Plans paid in arrears.

If such payment plan is selected during Member Add, Contract Add processes, the user will be required to provide Personal Id and a new screen will be shown after Payment Plan selection. If the user has an active contract with such payment plan, they will be required to provide Personal Id during Member Edit.

To use this feature, contact Customer Support to enable setting Contract.RequirePersonalIdForPaymentPlansPaidInArrears.

This setting overrides the CustomValidation.UserData.PersonalId setting.

Feature description

In Perfect Gym, you have many options available when you create a new Payment Plan. You can choose from various options to find the best fit for your business. Depending on the options selected during configuration, your Payment Plan will bring you different business outcome. To make this process easier for you, we have divided the Payment Plan configuration process into several steps. 

Below, you can find definitions of the most commonly used settings. Mind that only the settings that do not require a custom set up were listed here. 

Read the following definitions and get familiar with their meaning to better understand their functionality. 

New Payment Plan

• Name - you have to give a name to your Payment Plan. It will be, by default, a Fiscal name visible on a receipt. 
• Start date - it is the date your Payment Plan will be available for purchase. This field is optional when you want your Payment Plan to be available indefinitely. 
• End date - it is the last day your Payment Plan will be available for purchase. This field is optional if you want your Payment Plan to be available indefinitely.
• Minimum age - enter the minimum age your members must be at to be able to use this Payment Plan. 

This could be useful when creating an offer for Senior members. 

• Max age - enter the maximum age your members must not exceed to be able to use this Payment Plan.

This could be useful when creating an offer for Students. 

• Fiscal name - if you want the name of the Payment Plan to be different on a receipt, enter the Fiscal name. 
• Active - tick this checkbox if you want your Payment Plan to become available for purchase.
• Plan type - select the Plan type from predefined options: 
  • Contract - most commonly used when creating paid Payment Plans, i.e. 3-monts, 6-months, 1-year commitment.
  • Corporate - most commonly used when creating Payment Plans for Corporate / B2B clients. It is also called Hybrid.  
  • Course - used only when creating Payment Plan related to semester-long Courses. It is a separate module in the system. 
  • No contract - most commonly used when creating Payment Plans with no commitment, i.e. One-day Pass, additional services. 
• Additional payment plan - tick this checkbox if you want to create an additional payment plan which will be connected to the main Contract. 

Fees

Depending on your country taxation policy, make sure the tax percentage has been properly added and is available to select next to the fields below. 

• Fees - you can decide if the amounts should be counted nett or gross.
• Membership fee - it is the amount the club member pays for their Contract. Depending on the Payment Interval, this could be 1-month, 3-month, 1-year fee. 
• Joining fee - it is a one-time payment required during adding the Contract to the Member Profile. 

To allow your member avoid this payment for a given period of time, contact the Perfect Gym Support Team and provide the number of days of the allowance.

• Deposit value - it is a fixed amount that the member should pay during registration. This amount can be easily returned to the member.  
• Administration fee - it is a one-time payment required during adding the Contract to the Member Profile. 

To allow your member avoid this payment for a given period of time, contact the Perfect Gym Support Team and provide the number of days of the allowance.

• Freeze available - tick this checkbox if you want the Payment Plan to allow freezes.
• Allowable debit - if you want to allow your members to enter the club on debt, enter the maximum amount enabling entrance. It also determines the limit of the debit during online purchase.
  (this applies only to Pos Debt. If you would like to change settings regarding Contract Balance, you have to either contact person with permissions to change settings in Access Logic tab, or PG Support Department to change it for you)

The amount must start with "-". 

• Penalty for unpaid installments - it is the amount your members will be charged with in case of debt. 
• Penalty charged after days - it defines the number of days after which the penalty for unpaid installments will be charged. 

Payment methods

• Credit card - by choosing this payment method during the registration process, the member provides credit/debit card details to your company. By use of that, you can charge your club member automatically. 
• Direct debit - by choosing this payment method during the registration process, the member provides bank account details to your company and authorizes it by their signature. This way, you can charge your club member automatically. 
• Paid at the reception - this option allows using a payment gateway. It is commonly used in case of one-time payments and Upfront contracts. Default payment source is Cash (Paid at the reception). When only this checkbox is ticked, it will not force the member to add another source of payment during registration.

Mind, this payment method is not the same as making POSweb payments, which are available anytime!

• Invoice - it is commonly used in case of Corporate Payment Plans and Hybrid Payment Plans. Use this option when the Contract is paid by a company. 
• Money transfer - this feature is rarely used. However, if you want to give your members the possibility to make payments via bank account transfer, tick this checkbox.

Mind, this payment method is not the same as an online payment feature!

Periods

• Payment interval - it describes how often a member will be charged with a Membership fee. 
• Commitment period - it is the total period of time the Contract has been signed for. 
• Minimum cancellation period - it is the minimum allowable period between the cancellation date and the end of the Contract.
• Maximum cancellation period - it is the maximum allowable period between the cancellation date and the end of the Contract. 
• Minimum cancellation period after commitment date - it defines the minimum allowable cancellation period from the date of informing the club by the member till the end of the contract after the commitment date. It is turned on with a setting!

Settings

• First payment on sign up date - tick this checkbox if you want to charge your member with fees (Administration and Joining Fee and Prorata) on the sign up date. 
• Automatically end contract after commitment period reached - tick this checkbox if you want the Contract to end automatically after the commitment period.
• Limit number of visits in a period - tick this checkbox if you want to grant your club members only a limited number of visits within a certain period of time, i.e. 4 times per each month. Select the number of entrances allowed and the period of time. 
• Limit the ability to choose a contract for the Club Member - tick this checkbox if you want the Contract to be available for purchase only the limited number of times per one member. Select the number of purchases one member is allowed to make during a specified period of time. 
• The period after which you can renew contract - it is the minimum period of time after which the Contract can be renewed. This option is not commonly used. We recommend to use the auto-renewal option to allow the Contract to be automatically extended after its end.
• Payment interval occurs on contract start day (no prorata) - tick this checkbox if you want the first Payment Interval to start with the Contract start date. 

By default, the system counts the prorata, which means that the first Payment Interval starts on the first day of the next month. 

• Payment interval occurs on contract selected day - here, you can choose the day of the month when the Payment Interval starts. 

The day of the month when the recurring payments will be charged can be set up in the Recurring Payment Day field when adding a Contract to the Member Profile. For more information, go to this article.

Mind that Recurring Payment Day feature is available from R.85 system version! If you want to use it, go to PGM -> Settings -> General settings -> Membership -> Contracts and turn this setting on: Contract.RecurringPaymentDayIsVisibleInContract

• Contract end prorata - in case of ending the Contract before the Payment Interval, the system counts the remaining period till the end of the Contract and reduces the value of the Contract.  
• Synchronization with main contract - tick this checkbox only when creating Additional payment plan. The system will connect these two contracts in terms of their end date, freezes and payment status (whether on debt or paid). 
• Automatic renew - use this option if you want the Contract to be automatically renewed after its end date. You can choose from all active contracts available in your club. 
• Can be renewed - use this option if you want to manually renew the Contract on the same conditions. This feature has to be set up by the Perfect Gym Support Team or while Implementation period.

Here, you can choose the period of time within which the Contract can be renewed, i.e. 15 days prior the Contract end date, or within 15 days after the contract end date. 

• Paid all freeze - use this option when you want to automatically charge your members with a payment for their contract freeze in the moment of adding freeze to their contract. 

Example: if you would like to freeze the member's contract for 3 months - October, November, December - and you would like to add this freeze today, the payment for the whole freeze period will be charged today as well. 

• Can pay for classes using contract - in the PGM -> Class categories, you can set that a given category of classes is additionally paid in the form of a contract fee (the contract fee will be visible in transactions). This option will allow you to book and pay for such classes.
• Prorata type - select one of the following options: 
  • Default value - it means daily 
  • 100% Membership Fee - it means that the amount a member has to pay between the Contract start date and the start of the first full Payment Interval will always be the same, irrespective of the number of days in the prorata period.  
  • Daily - it means that the system divides the Membership Fee into days and counts the amount a member has to pay between the Contract start date and the start of the first full Payment Interval. 

In this option, the start of the Commitment Period is the same as the date of the first full Payment Interval charge.

• End date boundary - it means the maximum date you can cancel a Contract with. This feature has to be configured by the Perfect Gym Support Team. Use it when you want to set the same Contract End Date for every member purchasing this Contract. (PaymentPlan.EndDateBoundary.Visible)

Mind that this feature only works if the contract Commitment Period is longer than the date set in End date boundary. So if the Commitment period is set to 12 months, and the End Date Boundary is before 12 months, then it works. However, if End Date Boundary is set beyond these 12 months, then it won't work.

• Default payment plan for employee - tick this checkbox when creating Payment Plan dedicated to employees. 
• Agreement template - select the given agreement template.
• Template of rules - select the given Terms and Conditions template.
• Category - select it if you want to divide your Payment Plans into categories, i.e. Off-pick, Senior, Student, Open, Annual, etc. Contract category is visible in the Reports, i.e. Contracts. It is useful if you want to keep record of different Payment Plan categories and monitor how many members are there in each category, and which Payment Plan is the most popular. 
• Transfer to club on contract start date - select it if you want to automatically connect the Payment Plan with a given club. This process will be done on the Contract start date. 

Visibility

• Only for chosen roles - tick this checkbox if you want to grant the access to the Payment Plan visibility to a specific role, i.e. Club Manager. In this case, roles other than this specific one will not be able to see this Payment Plan during new member addition. 

Early termination fee

• Is early termination fee charged - an early termination fee is a penalty fee for ending the contract before the commitment period by the club member. I.e. if a member has signed a 1-year contract and wants to terminate it earlier, he/she will have to pay the termination fee for the past or remaining Payment Intervals. Tick this checkbox if you want to charge your members with the early termination fee.

You can choose from two different fee types described below:

1. Dynamic fee part - choose this type if you want to charge your members with the fee, which can be calculated in three different ways:

• Remaining - the termination fee will be calculated for the remaining period, from the new end date to the end of the commitment period. You can also decide if the termination fee should be calculated as the membership fee percentage or a value. In the Value field, decide how many per cent of a membership fee will be counted per each remaining month as the termination fee. See the example below:

If a member has signed the 1-year contract for 1200 EUR (100 EUR per month) and wants to terminate it after 4 months, the termination fee will be calculated for the remaining 8 months.
If you select Percentage and in the Value field enter 10, the system will add the transaction amounting to 80 EUR (10% per each remaining month).
If you select Value and enter 20 in the Value field, the system will add the transaction amounting to 160 EUR (20 EUR per each remaining month). 

• Past - the termination fee will be calculated for the past period, from the start date to new end date of the contract. You can also decide if the termination fee should be calculated as the membership fee percentage or a value. In the Value field, decide how many per cent of a membership fee will be counted per each past month as the termination fee. See the example below:

If a member has signed the 1-year contract for 1200 EUR (100 EUR per month) and wants to terminate it after 4 months, the termination fee will be calculated for the past 4 months.
If you select Percentage and in the Value field enter 10, the system will add the transaction amounting to 40 EUR (10% per each past month).
If you select Value and enter 20 in the Value field, the system will add the transaction amounting to 80 EUR (20 EUR per each past month). 

• Lower of two - past or remaining fees sum - the system will calculate which dynamic fee part is lower and will add the transaction amounting to the lower sum. 

Tax - by default you can use the same tax rate as for the membership fee. But in some countries, it is possible to set the lower tax rate for termination fees therefore the system enables you to change the tax rate for the calculated end fee. Be sure to confirm this with your local tax office.

2. Fixed fee part - choose this type if you want to charge your members always with the same amount regardless of the remaining or past period. Enter the chosen amount in the Fixed fee part field. 

Initial payment for online registration requirement

• Initial payment is required during online registration - it allows you to charge your members with the initial payment during their online registration. Otherwise, the initial payment would be charged in accordance with the Payment plan setup, which usually would be on the Contract start date. 
• Payment in advance summary (Client Portal) - during the registration via Client Portal, the system will require an upfront payment regardless of the Payment Interval.

Contract payment due date settings 

• Payment in advance for contract - choose this option if you want to charge your members with the one-time, whole Contract Payment on the day of signing the Contract. It will result in an upfront payment regardless of the Payment Interval. It works both for PGM and Client Portal.

If you have already used Payment in advance summary (Client Portal), you do not need to select this option to get this result in Client Portal. 

• Use advance due date schema policy for contract fees - for advanced users only! It allows to create a custom Contract fee schema and define when the Joining fee, Administration fee and Membership fee will be charged during the registration process. It has to be set up in Dictionaries. If you want to use this feature, contact the Perfect Gym Support Team. 

Limited products sale

Use this option if you want to limit the quantity of products available for purchase. See the example below.

If you want to limit the product sale, i.e. towels, select the towel and add the quantity (i.e. 10). In this case, the system will allow you to sell every product available for purchase and not more than 10 towels. 

• Click on the Add new record button and select the Name and Quantity of the product and click on the Tick icon on the left side.

Assigned clubs

Decide in which clubs your Payment Plan will be available for purchase. 

• Add to new clubs - check this box if the Payment Plan should be automatically assigned to all new clubs.
• Check the clubs where the Payment Plan should be available for purchase

Access rules

• Select the access rule that you have previously created. Member using this Payment Plan will have access to particular zones and clubs according to a given schedule configured within the selected access rule. 

Available for

• Select the modules where the Payment Plan should be available for purchase. 

Additional payment plans

Please contact our support team to enable this setting. More information on additional payment plans can be found here.

• Select the additional payment plans that will be available as a secondary contract to the main payment plan.

• Unused - Not available as a secondary contract to the main payment plan
• Available - Available as a secondary contract to the main payment plan
• Automatically added - Automatically added as a secondary contract to the main payment plan

Payment plan's upgrades

• Can upgrade to - select Payment Plans that will be visible in the Member Profile in PGM and in Client Portal during the upgrade process. Go to this article for more information on Contract upgrades on the Member Profile.